The Washington Monthly: The Republican Tax Cut Framework Is Already in Trouble

The tax cut framework suggests that Republicans will eventually define some corporate tax loopholes to close. They haven’t done so yet because that will unleash a host of corporate lobbyists to fight against them, which is all the proof we should need that the statutory tax rate, as it exists today, is meaningless. The real juice is in the loopholes. A study completed by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy last March found that, “Eighteen of the corporations, including General Electric, International Paper, Priceline.com and PG&E, paid no federal income tax at all over the eight-year period. A fifth of the corporations (48) paid an effective tax rate of less than 10 percent over that period.” Read more